BusinessDay 17 Aug 2017

Thursday 17 August 2017
CRC appoints Jobome as chairman
HEZRON ATUNDE
The board of CRC Credit
Bureau Limited has
appointed Gregory
Ovie Jobome as the
new chairman, to replace Dele
Alabi whose two-year tenure
expired in May 2017. The board
also appointed three non-executive
directors - Messers Kyari
Bukar, Shuaib Audu and Biyi
Olagbami
Jobome is currently the
Executive Director, Risk Management
Division at Access
Bank Plc. He is a thorough
bred professional with strong
academic credentials. He obtained
a First-Class Degree
in Economics from the University
of Maiduguri in 1986
and a Distinction in Master of
Business Administration from
Obafemi Awolowo University
in 1990. Jobome also obtained
a Master of Science Degree
(1994) and a Doctorate Degree
(2002) both in Economics and
Finance from Loughborough
University, UK. He has over
25 years of work experience
obtained from Guaranty Trust
Bank Plc, University of Liverpool
Management School,
Manchester Business School
and Access Bank Plc. He was
Budding entrepreneurs latch unto
co-working models to boost business
OBINNA EMELIKE
In a bid to thrive amid the
harsh business climate in
Nigeria, business owners,
especially start-ups, are now
latching unto co-working models,
which provide soft landing,
networking opportunities and
synergy that reduce their risks and
improve business profitability.
The co-working model
provides spaces outside the
conventional corporate office
where budding business owners
converge to do their business,
sharing and innovating ideas, as
well as, using same facility.
The imperative of the model
was brought to the fore at the
long-awaited Co-working Conference,
which held for the first
time in Lagos recently. The
Nigeria edition of the global
conference themed ‘The Nigerian
Co-working Industry: Opportunities
and Benefits,’ which
held at Lekki, Lagos, brought
together global experts, entrepreneurs,
investors, service
providers, and leading figures
in Nigeria’s co-working industry,
to explore the drivers of the
growth in co-working spaces in
HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE
appointed director representing
Access Bank on the board
of CRC Credit Bureau limited
in December 2013.
Kyari Bukar, appointed as
independent director, is the
Chairman of the Board of the
Nigerian Economic Summit
Group. He was the MD/CEO
of the Central Securities Clearing
System Limited (CSCS) till
December 2016. Bukar holds
a B.Sc. degree in Physics from
Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria,
Nigeria and an M.Sc. degree
in Nuclear Engineering from
Oregon State University, USA.
He is an alumnus of the
Lagos Business School (LBS),
Wharton Business School and
Harvard Business School, USA.
Bukar’s professional experience
traverses the financial services,
IT Services, IT/financial infrastructure
and the public sector.
Nigeria, and the opportunities
and value being created.
In his opening remarks,
Kola Oyeneyin, creator, Co-
Working Conference Nigeria
and founder/CEO, Venia, noted
that co-working spaces were
the future of work places in the
world because by being a coworking
space, entrepreneurs
could identify, network, and
create funding opportunities
for their businesses.
For him, about 40 percent of
the world’s workforce will be entrepreneurs
and freelancers by
2020, and this is a major driver
in the rise in demand for coworking
spaces even in Nigeria.
Explaining further, Oyeneyin
said, “The impact of
co-working spaces can be far
reaching as young people, who
are also called the millennials,
can now work from anywhere.
They are the digitally nomads.
That is the future of work. You
see a guy in a café, buys a cup
of coffee and doughnut working
away on his PC. In the new
co-working spaces, there are no
more receptionists rather community
managers because they
manage different businesses.”
BBC News broadcasts a week of special
programming on Africa’s rising population
UK Department
for International
Trade (DIT) in
Nigeria, and the British
Deputy High Commission
in Lagos, welcome the new
West Africa trade director,
Kate Rudd, to spearhead
bilateral trade activity in
the region.
Kate is based in the
financial capital, Lagos,
covering UK-Africa trade in
the coastal countries from
Senegal to Gabon. She is
looking forward to become
more acquainted with the
culture and business of Nigeria
and the wider region.
After beginning her
career in the private sector
at KPMG, Kate has served
in Her Majesty’s Government
for over 14 years and
comes to Lagos directly
from Khartoum where she
was Deputy Ambassador.
Over 70% of Nigeria’s printing jobs done abroad
… development puts pressure on naira, employment
DANIEL OBI
In spite of the enormous
quality and growing
printing industry in Nigeria,
over 70 percent of
printing jobs by Nigerians
are executed overseas, a development
that costs Nigeria
billions of naira annually
and puts pressure on foreign
exchange, stakeholders in
the printing business say.
This development has
pushed the Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN) to mull the
idea of shutting out foreign
companies in the printing
of security documents. Also,
Lai Mohammed, minister of
information, recently said
the Federal Government
was taking steps to amend
the Nigeria Broadcasting
Code to discourage the production
of Nigerian movies
and music outside the
shores of the country.
But stakeholders are not
sure how government wants
to discourage printing of
other paper and large format
materials abroad.
Speaking with Business-
Day Tuesday in Lagos, Talal
Akar, business controller,
Tenaui Africa, representative
of Canon Equipment in
Nigeria, said from a research
the firm conducted this year
70 percent of printing jobs
were being printed abroad.
Akar blamed this on attitude
of Nigerians who have
penchant for foreign things
and do not believe that there
were printers at home that
could give them the quality
they want.
Akar, who spoke at Canon
Equipment exhibition
in Lagos, said Canon had
come with quality printers
in Nigeria for quality printing
of any material.
Regretting the printing
of jobs abroad, Olu Adefowope,
president, Printers
Association of Nigeria, said
this development was costing
Nigeria huge amount of
money annually.
C002D5556
IGNATIUS CHUKWU & MERCY ENOCH
Drug shops in Delta
State are selling
drugs outside
their licences,
such as gentamycin, the
National Agency for Food
and Drug Administration
and Control (NAFDAC) has
cried out.
The agency has therefore
called on patent medicine
dealers in the state to desist
from selling unauthorised
drugs and vaccines in their
premises.
The state coordinator,
Jude Ndekile, who is an
assistant director, stated
this in Asaba while displaying
some unwholesome
products confiscated by the
agency. He said, “In course
of our routine inspection
we have observed that some
patent medicine stores sell
drugs that are beyond their
mandate.”
He said that “drugs such
as high dose tramadol of
BUSINESS DAY
35
NEWS
As Belema oil community boils: Shell raises
fresh concerns over investments in Niger Delta
IGNATIUS CHUKWU
… OML-25 still shut down, workers evacuated
By Saturday, August
12, 2017, Nigeria’s
oil field near the
Atlantic Ocean,
Oil Mining License
25, remained shut and
Shell workers evacuated as
the host community, Belema,
continued to occupy the area.
Top officials of the Shell
Petroleum Development
Company (SPDC) in Port
Harcourt, Rivers State, expressed
fears that the continued
use of hostile methods to
make a case would continue
to put the Niger Delta area
in disadvantage over investment
decisions.
Reacting earlier on Friday
over the invasion of OML 25,
a spokesman for SPDC said,
“Some persons illegally occupied
SPDC’s Belema Flow
Station and Gas Plant today
(August 11, 2017). The facilities
were not manned at the
time as they had earlier been
shut down following security
threats. We have notified the
authorities of the incident
and are working towards safe
resumption of operations.
“SPDC will continue to
take all necessary steps to
ensure the safety and security
of staff and contractor
personnel in our operations.”
SPDC said it restated commitment
to development of
host communities, and debunked
allegations of neglect
of Kula, Belema communities.
Belema community leaders
had said earlier that they
had got no benefits in 37
years of Shell in their area
and demanded for the exit of
the Anglo-Dutch oil firm for
others to take over.
In response, SPDC said
its commitment to the welfare
of host communities in
the Niger Delta remained
unshaken, even as it decried
the occupation of Belema
Flow Station and Gas Plant by
some persons as illegal.
“SPDC has informed the
authorities of the illegal occupation
and is working towards
resuming safe operations.
Debunking allegations
of neglect of communities in
Kula kingdom and Belema in
Rivers State,” the SPDC said,
noting it had implemented
a global memorandum of
understanding (GMoU) in
the area that led to a wide
variety of social investment
projects, including university
scholarships awards.
It explained that the Rivers
State government initiated a
mediation process for the resolution
of the disagreements
in the community, which had
resulted in the creation of the
Kula Project Implementation
and Monitoring Committee
(PIMC) in 2012.
“The PIMC served as an
interim platform for the delivery
of social investment
initiatives and programmes
worth N263 million in the
Soku-San Berth Project.
These projects are separate
from the GMoU projects initiated
by communities using
funds provided by the SPDC
JV,” the company said
The statement by general
manager, external relations,
Igo Weli, said, “A GMoU was
eventually signed in 2014 for
the Kula Cluster but has not
been implemented because
of continuing intra-community
disagreements.
L-R: Abdullahi
Ibrahim,
executive
director, retail
banking north,
FirstBank;
Adesola
Adeduntan,
MD/CEO, First
Bank of Nigeria
Limited and
Subsidiaries,
and Charles
Inyangete,
MD, Nigeria
Mortgage
Refinance
Company Ltd,
at FirstBank’s
Voice of the
Customer
Forum in Abuja
recently.
NAFDAC cries out as drug shops in Delta sell
gentamycin, other banned drugs
120ml, 200ml and 250ml
were been sold in patent
medicine stores while
banned drugs like analgen
injections, gentamycin 20
injections and other injectables
were found in some
stores.”
He further stated that
some stores were found to
be selling oxytocin, tetanus
toxoids and other vaccine
drugs that are supposed
to be refrigerated but were
displayed in shelves.
He warned patent medicine
dealers in the state to
desist from selling unauthorised
and banned drugs and
sell only OTC drugs which
their license cover adding
that those contravening the
law will no longer be made
to pay administrative fine
but face prosecution.
He said that some pharmacy
stores were also sanctioned
for offences such
as inappropriate storing of
drugs, sells of banned and
expired drugs.